This is an activity about the requirements of life. Learners will explore what living things need to survive and thrive by creating and caring for a garden plot (outdoors where appropriate) or a container garden (indoors) at the program facility....(View More) The garden will be used to beautify the facility with plant life with many planting and landscaping options provided. Children will consider the requirements of living things, compare the surface conditions on Mars to those found on Earth, view images/video of a NASA Astrobiology Institute "garden" where astrobiologists are studying life under extreme conditions, and consider the similarities and differences in the type of life that would be possible on Mars as compared to their garden on Earth. It also includes specific tips for effectively engaging girls in STEM. This is activity 3 in Explore: Life on Mars? that was developed specifically for use in libraries.(View Less)

This self-paced, interactive tutorial incorporates data sets from a variety of sources to investigate coastal oceanographic processes and their connections to climate and biology. Learners will predict coastal upwelling events based on prevailing...(View More) physical conditions, and become familiar with how upwelling and bloom events in the ocean can be detected using satellite imagery, and make connections between local ocean conditions and global consequences. This resource is part of the tutorial series, Satellite Observations in Science Education, and is the second of three modules in the tutorial, Coastal Upwelling. (Note: requires Java plug-in)(View Less)

This self-paced, interactive tutorial examines upwelling in non-coastal regions of the ocean as well as the factors that influence algal blooms. Learners become familiar with ocean dynamics that create a surface deficit of water and cause upwelling,...(View More) and engage in activities that allow them to detect and measure the areal extent of blooms using remotely-sensed imagery. This resource is part of the tutorial series, Satellite Observations in Science Education, and is the third of three modules in the tutorial, Coastal Upwelling. (Note: requires Java plug-in)(View Less)

This self-paced, interactive tutorial explores how biological activity helps to determine vertical nutrient distributions in the ocean, examines why upwelling boosts marine productivity, and considers how various physical forces interact to...(View More) determine upwelling. Learners then predict coastal upwelling events based on prevailing physical conditions as identified in remotely-sensed imagery. This resource is part of the tutorial series, Satellite Observations in Science Education, and is the first of three modules in the tutorial, Coastal Upwelling. (Note: requires Java plug-in)(View Less)

In this activity, students develop a timeline relating technological advances, particularly in microscopy, to how scientists have classified living organisms throughout history. Students use Internet and/or library resources to investigate important...(View More) discoveries in biology, and their links to these technological advances. The timeline will range from Aristotle's two-kingdom system of classification, to the system of using three domains of life, which is currently favored by a number of scientists. This activity is part of an astrobiology guide called the "Fingerprints of Life" which contains background information for students, worksheets, extension activities, suggested assessments, and alignment to standards.(View Less)